How to Find Clients for Your Security Company Part 1

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The book describes this "old school" method that you can use to find potential clients for your agency.

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Many of the most innovative security client sourcing techniques are hidden in obvious view.

The valuable sourcing information is encountered each and every day by the security company's officers. But, this information remains hidden in plain sight because the security guard usually does not worry about getting new security clients for his company.

Unfortunately, the information isn't communicated to the company's management simply because the company's security guards who encounter the information don't always have the important mindset to view the information through the prism of a business opportunity.

Because a company's ownership and its salesmen don't work the security shifts with the security guards they remain painfully oblivious to the massive intelligence gathering opportunities that the company ignores each and every day.

This is where a small startup company gains a tremendous advantage over the big security companies. In a small startup the owner likely works some of the security shifts himself. He is in constant contact with the officers of the company. He can engage in innovative client sourcing techniques and encourage his officers to do the same.

The owner of the small company knows and personally communicates with his officers. They will likely use this relationship to communicate valuable industry-related intel to their boss and friend. The owner can then follow up on each lead and pursue each opportunity even if the lead originated from on-the-ground data collection. After all, this is his company and he knows that he must aggressively pursue new client candidates.

The large companies likely separate out their sales team and account managers from their security operations. Those who work security sites may not even know the company's salesmen. Valuable on-the-ground intelligence that could be acted on goes unused. Even when intel does filter up from the rank and file to the management this information may not be acted on simply because management may not be properly incentivized to source new clients. And, since this isn't their company, management will not have the same personal commitment and may not really care if new clients are signed up or not.

So, what are some examples of this information and how is it utilized to find new clients?

Consider this description of one of the old-school methods that I personally made a practice of using for client sourcing. Due to advances in technology it isn't as effective as it used to be but still works.

It was a patrol officer's responsibility to monitor local police radio bands. This allowed him to keep appraised on incidents that may be occurring close to one of his sites. Or, perhaps he could contact an on-site officer to inform him that a public safety situation was developing close to his site. The patrol officer could provide details and instruct the on-site officer as needed.

This constituted an important service to our clients. And it was a service the other security agencies didn't necessarily match. Certainly, the occasional on-site officer might carry his own police scanner but most security companies simply don't coordinate the monitoring of police frequencies from a centralized location.

Of course, most of the monitored police traffic had nothing to do with any of the sites where my company held a contract. Much of this traffic was routine. I can remember how predictable certain radio traffic became. Each time a storm came in from the west I could expect that numeros alarm calls would be issued to less-than enthusiastic police officers. The officers knew that the alarm was caused by wind, lightning or thunder and clearly didn't enjoy the requirement to respond to an obviously false alarm. I figured that the perfect time to break into a monitored building would be during one of these thunderstorms. The police had little motivation to respond to these alarms in a timely manner and I certainly suspect they conducted the most cursory of inspections once they arrived on site.

Initially, much of this radio traffic was merely a distracting novelty. It didn't affect any of our sites when a nearby business kept generating alarm monitoring calls due to inclement weather.

At some point my view of this type of radio traffic changed. I started to see an opportunity each time a police officer was dispatched to a property not already secured by my agency. This was an opportunity to translate on-the-ground observations into actionable security intelligence.

If a business kept generating false alarms they might become subject to a municipal fine for repeated calls. Wouldn't it be better if they simply forwarded those calls to our dispatch? We could respond and perform a much more detailed inspection than the police ever would.

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Perhaps the police were dispatched to a property that I knew had a competing security company on site. Did the reason for the call come about as a result of ineffective or incompetent security? Perhaps this represented a weakness or a reason for the property management to have dissatisfaction with the current provider. Maybe it was time to contact the vendor account manager at that site to see if they would be interested in considering a bid from a more competent security firm.

Maybe a crime occurred at an industrial complex that didn't have security. Clearly this presented an occasion for the owners of the complex to re-evaluate their failure to hire security.

I decided to capture this information. I designed an in-house reporting form so that the patrol officer could record information as it came across the radio. This form could then serve as a sourcing document that enabled the company to go into areas that had recently experienced criminal activity and would be conducive to the idea that private security should be hired to solve the problem.

Of course, this strategy must be accompanied by good taste and good judgment. Its probably not a good idea for a security company salesman to show up on the doorstep of a victimized property owner the morning after the crime occurs. In fact, some paranoid property owners might start to suspect that the company is somehow involved in the crime if the company always solicits for business in the immediate aftermath of the crime.

The strategy is probably most effective when the security agency waits a week or so before attempting to make contact with the property owner. At that time the incident will still be at the forefront of the property owner's concern. He should be open to considering an offer for private security services without being offended by the company's offer coming in near proximity to the occurrence of the incident. He may also be concerned about repeat crimes should the property risk providing on ongoing lucrative target to the criminals.

This form of intelligence gathering also enhances the sales process. For instance, after analyzing scanner traffic the security agency owner will know that similar break-ins have occurred in the area surrounding the potential client's facility. He can use this knowledge to demonstrate his awareness of local public safety conditions and impress the possible client while also justifying the need for private security services.

Over time technology has both helped and hurt this form of intelligence gathering. Now, online services are placing some public safety channels online where they can be heard through smartphone apps and Web-based sites. A security company owner can now monitor the radio traffic of a distant police department that his scanner can not pick up. Or, maybe the company can only afford a couple of scanners. A smartphone app can be found for very low to no cost and substitute for a scanner if necessary.

Certain public safety departments have started linking their dispatch centers to social media. For instance, a dispatch center may connect to the Twitter API and push out real-time dispatches. This allows the public to avoid areas which are experiencing a public safety difficulty. It also provides a record of public safety incidents for the security company owner to review.

The advance of technology has also made it more difficult to use scanner traffic as a source of intelligence gathering. Large public safety department channel many of their call assignments through mobile data terminals. A police scanner may only allow the listener to hear a small portion of the overall calls handled by large departments. Many dispatches and almost all conversation between officers now take place through these terminals. Of course, the department likely still dispatches the most important calls over the radio as individual officers can not be near their computers at all times.

Those interested in using this method for sourcing client data can find standard police scanners available through any number of electronic retailers and online. Prior to purchasing equipment the security agency should determine the frequencies used by the public safety departments within the company's area of operation. This can likely be done through a simple search engine search.

Additionally, many departments have upgraded their communications system to 800 Mhz and may encrypt their transmissions. This means that security agencies may have to buy more expensive scanners to monitor the new bandwidth or in the case of encryption may be deprived of this tool altogether.

Harvesting the data about criminal incidents represents the foremost innovative method for finding new security clients. Even if monitoring public safety frequencies isn't an option there are other methods for collecting this data. Future articles will examine the other methods for harvesting this data as well as the importance of designing and tailoring security services based on the analytics of the data.

JW Murphey

Murphey started a private security agency at the age of 19. He enjoys writing articles to assist those in the security industry with the licensing and training process. He can be contacted @JW.Murphey@securityofficerhq.com.

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